Peril
by SubliminalFrame
Summary: Someone wants revenge for something House did, and he's using the ducklings to get it. Be warned, there is a bit of WilsonCuddy, but mainly the story is focused on the ducklings Dunno if you guys remember this story, but CH 3 is up!
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone, this is my first stab at a House fanfiction. It's also the only fanfiction I've written that I'm remotely proud of(of course other people will probably hate it, so that's not saying much). Anyway, please read and review, it will be much appreciated! _

"Doctor Cuddy!" Exclaimed Gregory House as his boss sauntered into the break room.

"Wasn't that the same outfit you had on yesterday?" Lisa Cuddy glared at the other doctor but instead of replying, slapped all four of the black folders she had been carrying when she walked in, onto the long table situated in front of a white board with various obscenities written on it, many of them being nicknames for House's three employees who were sitting at the table pouring over what looked to be a rather intense game of scrabble.

"I was at the hospital all night." She said irritably.

"Ooh, sex in the office, you naughty girl"

"For your information, I was visiting a friend." On this declaration, the four of them turned to look at her, but before anyone could get a word in, she spoke again,

"Since all you four have been doing for the past 5 hours is sit here betting on who can come up with the longest word, I have assigned you all to clinic duty. House, exam room one, Chase, room two, Cameron, three, and Foreman, four" The entire room groaned in unison at the prospect of dealing with a bunch of sniveling whiny children paired with equally irritating parents. Cuddy gave them all a severe look, but they paid no attention to her with the exception of House who made a sarcastic face at her as they all grabbed their corresponding folders.

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"Miss Warner?" Robert Chase closed the door behind him in exam room two and turned around to face a thirty something woman leaning awkwardly on the exam table, her foot held out at an interestingly odd angle. She smiled weakly and stared at him with a set of soft hazel brown eyes.

"Sarah"

"Alright then, Sarah, I'm Dr. Chase. Why are you here?" His Australian lilt softened the words into a smooth sentence. Sarah paused for a moment, then began to speak, a modest grin creeping upon her face.

"Well it's a bit embarrassing but I was riding my bike, right? To work. And I wasn't really paying attention and then I turned my head for a split second and next thing you know I'm riding straight into a signpost and I can't walk very well because I think I may have broken my rib as well and my foot."

"Ouch, that must hurt" Said Chase sympathetically. Sarah smiled again, this time her eyes sparkling with humor. Chase took another look at her chart, before setting it down on the exam table and bending down to take a look at her foot.

"Ok, we're going to need to do an X-ray. I'm going to get you to put on one of these gowns though" He passed her one of the customary hospital gowns and she gave another one of her glittering smiles.

"I uh, don't think that in my current condition I'm going to be able to get into this thing on my own. You think you could help?" Her expression was completely innocent and besides, Chase had noted the stunning engagement ring on her left had and equally as beautiful wedding ring on her right when he had walked in, so he nodded his head and proceeded to help her remove her shoe.

He paused as he tied up the back of her gown, examining her wrists that had large purple bruises on the inside of them. He had noticed several other markings on her body moments before.

"Where, um, where did you get all of these bruises?" he asked cautiously. She paused for only a split second before laughing slightly and answering,

"Oh that. I went paint balling for my birthday last week and between me not being able to hold a gun whatsoever and the fact that I bruise quite easily, not to mention that I'm terrible at running away from people with guns...you know. I guess I accumulated a fair amount of bruises." Chase, not completely satisfied with this answer nevertheless accepted it and finished tying up her gown.

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Dr. Wilson knocked hesitantly on Dr. Cuddy's office door. She got up and, after smoothing any wrinkles out of her skirt, opened the door to let in the oncologist. She bit her lip as he walked in and he, noticing her look gave a comforting, yet somewhat tragic, smile. Her expression asked him what her voice could not, and he answered as best he could.

"It's malignant. There isn't much we can do. She's going to have undergo chemo regularly but other than that..." He broke off for fear that he was sounding insensitive, "Lisa, I'm so sorry. Your sister, she doesn't deserve any of this. She's a lovely woman-" He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence before he noticed the expression of complete sorrow adorning Cuddy's face, her eyes welling up with tears. Wilson took a step closer and pulled Cuddy towards him, encircling her in an embrace. Sh wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed quietly into his chest. After several long moments, when her sobs had subsided, he reached up to cup her face in his hands.

"Hey" he whispered gently. Cuddy could feel his breath flutter across her face as he spoke,

"It's going to be ok" She took a moment before nodding her reluctant acceptance as he rubbed a tear away from her cheek with the tip of his thumb. Their eyes locked instantly, the set of brown gazing intensely into the set of blue. On a mixture of pure instinct and lust, Wilson brought his face down to Cuddy's in tiny uneven movements. Their eyes closed, sheltering them from the inevitable. At first, their lips touched only slightly, generating a pulse of energy between the two, reminiscent of the way a butterfly's wings caressed the palm of your hand, tickling your flesh and sending shivers up your spine. They paused only slightly like this, before Cuddy let out a tiny whimper and pulled Wilson closer to her as their lips merged completely, pain and tears mingling. Their passion for each other was unsheathed as each put forth an extreme intensity to the connection, until something in Cuddy seemed to awaken and she gasped and pulled away, clapping a hand to her mouth, her eyes still glistening with tears.

"Oh god" she whispered, her breath uneven and ragged "I oh...I...You're _married_. Oh god."

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"The thing is, I don't believe that she got those bruises from paint balling and I don't, for one second think that she broke three ribs plus fractured several bones in her foot from crashing into a sign post." All three of House's 'ducklings', for lack of a better word, were situated on barstools at a bar that was conveniently located five minutes away from the hospital, however instead of loading up on alcohol they had all ordered soft drinks which would give them nothing more than a good caffeine buzz. Cameron, who was sitting beside Chase, turned to look at him, sympathy and curiosity glowing in her eyes,

"What do you think happened?" she asked concernedly. He thought about it for a moment, then took a sip of his root beer before answering,

"I think someone did it to her. Her husband more specifically" Foreman, who was sitting beside Cameron cocked his head to the side,

"Did she say something to you about her husband?"

"No, but she has the most incredible engagement ring with the biggest diamond I have ever seen not to mention that her wedding ring looks like it were made out of real gold" Cameron frowned,

"And you think because she has a rich husband he also beats her?"

"No, that's not what I mean. Quite." Impatiently, Chase struggled to find an explanation.

"Ok, the rings tell us that they're probably rich. I'm guessing it's the husband that brought the money into the marriage, because she doesn't seem the type to have walked around getting whatever she wanted all her life. She's quite young and very pretty, so I'm guessing he's older but not by too much and he married her purely for her looks. She doesn't love him, maybe she wants out of the marriage. So, maybe, he beats her when he doesn't get what he want because he's not used to it"

"And you got all of that from her rings?" Foreman grinned and shook his head. Chase, still lost in thought, shrugged.

The three of them sat in silence for a few seconds, digesting all of this information. Chase shifted closer to Cameron as a man dressed completely in black sat himself down next to the doctor. It was after he had done this that Chase felt a painful jab in his back. He turned around to face the man sitting next to him who was holding the object that had been pushed into the small of Chase's back. It had a striking resemblance to a gun.

_Well, that's all for now, hope you liked it!_  



	2. Chapter 2

_Hello there my lovely reviewers! I have to say, I was absolutely floored at the amount of reviews I got for Chapter one. Thank you so much, I really do appreciate it. Anyway, this is chapter two and I must apologised for the delay; I've been tied up working on this play and it's taken up all my energy, however I managed to write most of this chapter while I was backstage and, although I like the first chapter alot better, this one is rather important to the storyline, so bear with me._

Wilson scanned the somewhat preoccupied expression of his best, and possibly only, friend as they, plus Cuddy, sat around the desk of Dr. Gregory House. When they had walked in, House instructed both of them to shut the doors adjoining his office to the hospital, and now they sat in silence. After what had seemed like forever, to Wilson and Cuddy, at least, who refused to make any eye-contact, neither of them having exchanged so much as a word to one another since their encounter in Cuddy's office, House stood up and pressed a button on his answering machine. He turned away to face the window as the three of them listened to a recorded message. The sound was fuzzy, but not inaudible enough to hear as a feminine whimper was let out.

"H-House? It's Allison. I'm not sure where we are-" her voice broke into a small yelp of pain at these words followed by a muffled sort of shout, then the deep voice of a man took over the message.

"Unless you want me to hurt her, you're going to do exactly what I tell you. I'm calling again in an hour." the phone clicked off and was followed by silence. House turned around, and sat himself down at his desk again in one smooth movement, his expression unreadable.

"I got that message 20 minutes ago." Both Wilson and Cuddy seemed lost for words. House returned to his seat and looked at them expectantly

"Well?" He demanded, "Are we going to _do_ anything?" Cuddy was first to recover from a moments shock, and she started to answer choosing her words carefully.

"If you're sure that this isn't just a childish prank, then I think we should go to the police. They'll be of more help than either of us will" She was straight to the point and very businesslike. House turned to Wilson,

"What do you think?"

"I agree with Lisa" He let out a small cough as he said her name and looked nervously to the side. There was an extremely uncomfortable amount of tension in the room, none of which House seemed to notice, but even so, it consumed the minds of his colleagues.

"Not a prank. I called each of their cell numbers at least five times. No answer." House's voice was full of confidence and self-appreciation. Wilson shrugged.

"Batteries could have run out." He glared back at House who gave him a patronizing stare before speaking again.

"Have you _met_ Cameron? Obsessive Compulsive much?"

"Okay, fine. Call the police."

"Mm, no." Exasperated, Cuddy and Wilson both gave House identical looks as if to say_ 'and?'_

"Oh please. You've seen the crime shows. The second they find out about it; _Boom, boom, boom," _He illustrated this by shooting imaginary people with his thumb and forefinger. Cuddy resisted rolling her eyes and instead settled for an impatient sigh.

"Okay then, What do we_ do?_" House considered this again, much in the same way he had done before. Clearly he hadn't thought about it yet. He shrugged.

"Ask around. Find out where they were last seen. Go from there?" He looked at Cuddy as she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her wrist, obviously tired and not in the mood for an argument.

"Alright. What do you want _us_ to do?" indicating herself and Wilson. This time, House didn't waste a moment before answering with a coy smile,

"You two can take the hospital and I'll take anywhere outside they might have been."

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Wilson caught up with House just as he was entering an elevator. He squeezed in just in time before the door closed and turned to face House.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" House asked as though he were speaking to a child still in kindergarten speaking slowly and over enunciating.

"You know. And you had that annoyingly superior grin on your face the whole time."

"Oh relax, I already know" Wilson turned to face House, a subtle look of alarm on his face.

"How do you know?" He sputtered out before thinking.

"Oh please. It's written all over your face. And besides. You just confirmed it." The bell for the elevator sounded and it's doors slid open, a thing that House took advantage of as he sidled through them leaving Wilson; half confused, half infuriated, in the lift.

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"Tom, Hey, Tom!" A gruff looking bartender shuffled over to where House, a frequent customer of this particular bar, stood; a rather hostile look applied to his expression.

"What can I do for ya, Greg?"

"My employees. Have they been in here today?" Tom paused, his focus on two men in the corner that seemed to have gotten into a heated argument, then returned his attention to the doctor.

"Who?"

"The idiots that work for me"

"Oh, the British one, the black guy and the hot chick?" House raised his eyebrows at this, but took no time in answering.

"That's them."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember cause they left with some weird guy. Kinda odd lookin' He comes in, all dressed in black, then starts talkin' to your friends and they all get up and leave. I had to remind 'em to pay!" House nodded.

"Thanks Tom" and with that dissapeared up the stairs that led him to the street outside, the sun shimmering and casting shadows on almost every surface.

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"James" Dr. Wilson looked around as Cuddy hissed at him again.

"Your office. Now" Wilson hesitated, wanting really nothing more than to run screaming from Princeton Plainsboro. Instead, he reluctantly accepted and followed Cuddy to his office.

Wordlessly, Dr's Cuddy and Wilson exchanged glances, He looked at her dumbfounded and she stared back threateningly as if to say,

"_You _know_ what"_ Sighing, Wilson broke the silence.

"What do we do?" Cuddy cleared her throat, she had been waiting for this.

"I think we should carry on as we used to. Maintain a professional relationship" At this, Wilson snorted. He opened his mouth, but was silenced by an unfriendly vibe radiating off of his boss.

"Well it's not like we can ever be together or anything" Wilson's expression softened.

"Why not? He asked, more curious that anything else and earning him another glare from Cuddy. She stood up, nearly knocking over her chair, infuriated.

"Are you completely stupid? For one you are _married_. Even if we managed to get over that obstacle there's still the fact that you can't seem to manage to keep a woman for more than a year without screwing someone else" This stung. Wilson got up from his desk and calmly removed himself from the room, leaving the fuming Cuddy still standing there, her hands clenched into fists.

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"Where the hell are we?" came Foreman's voice. Cameron looked around as he said this, trying to sense her way around the darkness that had engulfed the three of them. They had been locked into what seemed to be a large room that contained exactly...nothing. Unless you counted darkness, the reason none of them could see past their noses; not even the crack between the door and the floor was emitting light. Chase, having clawed off most of the rope that had been biting into his wrists, started working on the ties that bound his feet together, finally ending with the soft cotton tied around his mouth.

"Allison?"

"Yeah?" Her voice shook with fear as Chase crawled towards her, helping to remove her bonds, then assisting Foreman with his. When they were all effectively unbound, the sat for several second in silence.

"Hey, does someone wanna turn on the light?" questioned Foreman.

"Yeah, that be a good idea" came Chase's voice as he stood up and stumbled blindly towards what he thought might be a wall. Instead, he managed to trip over Cameron who was still sitting on the ground.

"Ow!" came her muffled cry. Chase rolled off of her and apologized profusely before he returned to his search for a light switch. Encouraging the other two to do the same. Once the three of them had scoured the walls for any trace of light and come up blank, they settled for sitting in a small circle around Chase's watch which which was set to emit a soft luminescent glow without having to continually press the light button.

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"Hey" whispered Cuddy to the frail young woman laying in the hospitable bed. She looked weak and tired, her face a ghostly pallor and her features softened as though she were melting away rather than dying of cancer. She gave Cuddy a sad smile and regarded her older sister with her gray eyes which on a first glance you could tell that they had once sparkled full of life but now they contained nothing more than emptiness and hurt. Her focus shifted to outside of her room and Cuddy turned around to look at what her sister found so interesting. As soon as she looked up, Dr. Wilson lowered his eyes to the ground and headed off in the direction of House's office. She turned back and, seeing the look on her sisters face, glared at her.

"Kathryn don't get any ideas. He's married."

"I know. I saw the ring on his finger. But he's obviously not happily married. And I'd say, that, by the way he's looking at you, you had something to do with it."

"Kathryn" Cuddy said sharply, warning her sister not to continue.

"I'm just saying. Whatever it is between you two, it might be good to get some clarification. You'd be sweet together though" Cuddy squeezed Kathryn's hand and smiled,

"Whoever said there ever was anything between us?" Kathryn looked sadly at Cuddy, then turned her head so she was facing the opposite, shifting her body on her side as well. Cuddy sighed and let go of her sisters hand, then proceeded to walk out the door. But not before she was interrupted.

"I'm dying" Cuddy spun around.

"What?"

"I'm dying and I have no one because I was to stupid to figure out that I loved him until it was too late"

"Who?" Cuddy took a feeble step closer to Kathryn's bed.

"Doesn't matter. You don't know him. The point is that you'll regret it if you don't do anything"

"I...I can't." There was several seconds of silence before Cuddy turned and walked out the door, her heels clacking loudly on the tile floor.

_Anyway, I hope you liked it and I'm pretty sure that chapter three won't be as late coming in now that my schedule has freed up a bit._


	3. Chapter 3

James Wilson considered himself to be an introvert, though not necessarily shy; only quiet. He kept to himself and tended to live vicariously through others, however he never hesitated when it came to women. Many people thought this to be a flaw of character, namely his two ex-wives and a pending third, but he himself thought it to be merely a part of himself, probably the only part, mind you, that he didn't feel awkward about exposing. He loved his first wife until he met someone that he loved, if possible, more. Whether it be an extreme case of naivety or a hidden trait of wisdom, he found that to him, his happiness was what was keeping him alive and he needed to be in control of this one thing for him to stay fully functional. Wilson, who had been sitting at his desk subconsciously sucking on the end of his pen, was stirred from his thoughts by a commotion going on outside his door. Actually, not so much of a commotion as cane being rapped not at all gently on his door. He, got up; roused from his stupor, and fought the urge to yell at House to go away. Instead he opened the door irritably and glared at his friend.

"Yes?" He growled. House gave him a sarcastic look of surprise as he pushed his way into Wilson's office.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" Wilson ignored this and walked back to his desk, resuming his seated position. House opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a deafening explosion that shook the hospital. Several things on shelves clattered to the floor and House's cane which was leaning against his chair moved noisily into a horizontal position. Wilson got up cautiously and opened his door to a hallway full of commotion. He headed down the hallway leaving House limping behind him, distance between the two growing quickly.

"Doctor Wilson!" shouted a nurse who Wilson had previously had lunch with on several occasions. He turned his head in her direction.

"Michelle, what the hell is going on?" he asked, watching her head of brown curly hair bob towards him. She had come from the stairs leading to level one of the hospital and was out of breath.

"There was a huge explosion in the left wing of the hospital. Collapsed nearly half the second floor onto the first." Wilson turned incredulously towards Michelle who's scrubs, he had just noticed, were covered in soot and ash.

"You alright?" He asked as they reached the stairs. She nodded fervently but sped up the pace.

"Hey!" yelled House from the top of the stairs. Wilson and Michelle had nearly gotten down the first flight of stairs, but they weren't far enough away for House to hear Wilson shout,

"Shut up and don't take the elevator!" scowling, House turned away and whacked his cane against the wall in an attempt to release his anger. A failed attempt, at that.

Downstairs, Wilson and Michelle had reached the point of commotion. The entire left half of the hospital had what appeared to be a very large dent in it. A smoking wreckage filled dent. Wilson squinted through the smoke and dust; panic leaving him in a cold sweat.

"Lisa?" He called out, his voice shaky. "Lisa?" his volume growing with each step he took towards the rubble.

"LISA!"


End file.
